SCOTLAND. 
danger, than he was alarmed by the news of the landing 
of the Danes in Fifeshire. Bancho marched to oppose 
their progress, and beat them back to their ships. About 
the same time, Macbeth, whose ambition led him to aspire 
to the throne, was encouraged in his daring views by a 
dream, in which he imagined that three women, naked, and 
of uncommon beauty, appeared to him and saluted him, 
one as thane of Angus, another as thane of Murray, and 
the third as king of Scotland. Henceforth he determined 
to accomplish his purpose at all hazards; and accordingly, 
having brought over many of the nobles 1o his side, he way¬ 
laid and murdered the king at Inverness. Macbeth then 
hastened to Scone, where he was invested with the royal 
author,ty. The sons of Duncan astonished at these events, 
fled, one into Cumberland, and the other to the Hebrides. 
Shakspeare has dramatised some of these events in his ad¬ 
mirable tragedy of “ Macbeth.” 
The first act of Macbeth’s reign was to suppress the feuds 
which subsisted between the thanes of Caithness, Ross, 
Sutherland, and Nairn. He afterwards defeated and slew 
Macgill, lord of Galloway, who refused to acknowledge his 
authority ; and quiet having been thus restored to the kingdom, 
he applied his attention to the enactment of many salutary 
laws, and to the correction of abuses in their administration. 
Thus he reigned ten years with so much justice, that the 
manner of his obtaining the throne was totally overlooked. 
At the close of that period, however, he began to give way 
to the natural cruelty of his temper, and to convert his 
hitherto laudable government into an oppressive and cruel 
tyranny. The first shock of his inhumanity was vented 
against Bancho, whom he invited to a feast, and caused to 
be slain whilst returning home, giving out that the deed was 
perpetrated in an accidental fray or tumult. Upon this, 
most of the nobles departed to their own castles, and only 
a few of them occasionally repaired to court. Hence mu¬ 
tual distrust and jealously sprung up between them and the 
king, who upon the slightest pretences seized their property, 
and put them to death. The confiscated estates he em¬ 
ployed to maintain a band of plunderers, whom he kept 
as a guard about his person. But even with their pro¬ 
tection he did not consider himself in safety, and therefore 
resolved to erect a castle for his residence on the summit of 
Dunsinnan hill. In the accomplishment of this work, he 
ordered all the thanes of the kingdom to assist; but Mac¬ 
duff, thane of Fife, sent only workmen on his part: this 
disobedience exasperated Macbeth so much, that he 
swore vengeance against Macduff, who, fearful of the con¬ 
sequences, immediately fled to England, where he found 
Malcolm, the son of Duncan, royally treated by king 
Edward the Confessor. After several interviews with the 
Scottish prince, he- encouraged him to assert his rights to 
the throne of Scotland. Malcolm, assured of Macduff’s 
integrity, hesitated not a moment to adopt his views, and 
being assisted by king Edward with 10,000 men, he march¬ 
ed directly info Scotland, where he was joined by all ranks 
of the people. Macbeth, not daring to hazard a battle, 
endeavoured to escape, but was arrested and put to 
death. 
Malcolm, having thus recovered his father’s dominions, 
was declared king in the year 1057. This prince is said 
to have introduced into Scotland the titles of earl, baron, 
and knight. Macduff, to whose encouragement and ex¬ 
ertions he owed the crown, is mentioned by Buchanan as 
having been the first who held the dignity of earl. At the 
same time, the privilege of placing the king in the chair of 
state at the ceremony of coronation was granted to him and 
his posterity. 
But though Malcolm thus easily obtained the crown, he 
was not allowed to enjoy it long in peace. The faction of 
Macbeth proclaimed his son, Luthlac, king, and for three 
months contended openly for the maintenance of his preten¬ 
sions. At length his followers were defeated and himself 
slain in Strath bogie. Malcolm now reigned for several 
years, undisturbed either by foreign or domestic enemies. 
835 
In the interim Edgar Atheling, who with his mother and 
sisters had fled from England to avoid the suspicions of 
William the Conqueror, was driven by distress of weather 
into Scotland, where they were courteously received by 
Malcolm, who married Margaret, the sister of Edgar. The 
Scottish prince further protected all Edgar’s banished friends, 
and assigned them lands for their maintenance. This con¬ 
duct excited king William to declare war against Scotland; 
but after several unsuccessful attempts at invasion, he con¬ 
cluded a peace favourable both to Edgar and Malcolm. 
The danger of foreign troubles being removed, several 
of the clans raised the standard of rebellion against the 
government, and for a time threatened its subversion ; but 
the valour of Macduff, and of Walter, grandson of Bancho, 
eventually restored quiet; for which service the latter was 
constituted lord steward of Scotland, and from him the 
royal family of Stewart were descended. Malcolm now 
applied himself to the reformation of the public morals, 
and established the two new bishoprics of Caithness and 
Moray. In 1079 he took advantage of the civil war in 
Normandy, between king William and his son, Robert, to 
devastate the county of Northumberland: to revenge this 
aggression, the English monarch sent an army into Scotland, 
but Malcolm’s cautious policy prevented it from effecting 
any important exploit, and a treaty was soon afterwards nego- 
ciated between the two kingdoms. The accession of William 
Rufus, however, again proved the signal for hostilities. 
Malcolm advanced into England as far as Chester-in-the 
Street, whence he retreated, as soon as he understood that 
the English army was in march to oppose him. William, in 
his turn, prepared for the'invasion of Scotland both by land 
and sea, and actually passed the borders, when the de¬ 
struction of his fleet, and the intercession of Robert, duke 
of Normandy, and Edgar Atheling, induced him to con¬ 
clude a peace with his antagonist. Malcolm promised the 
same homage which he had yielded to the conqueror; and 
William engaged to surrender to the Scottish king twelve 
manors, which Duncan had held in England, and to pay 
him twelve marks of gold annually: but peace did not con¬ 
tinue long. William fortified Carlisle in the subsequent 
year; a measure which Malcolm pointedly resented : a per¬ 
sonal interview was proposed in the hope of accommodating 
matters, but it had an opposite result. The Scottish king, 
therefore, led his army into Northumberland and besieged 
Alnwick; where he was surprised and slain, as was also his 
eldest son Edward Mowbray, on the 13th of November, 
1093. 
Donaldbane, the brother of Malcolm, succeeded, but he 
was soon driven from the throne by his nephew, Duncan, 
who was assisted in recovering his dominions by king Wil¬ 
liam Rufus; Duncan, however, had not enjoyed his dig¬ 
nity above six months, before he was assassinated at the in¬ 
stigation of his uncle, who once more usurped the crown, 
and reigned about two years, when he was a second time 
dethroned, and Edgar, the son of Malcolm, set up in his 
stead. This prince cultivated peace with king William 
Rufus, and his successor Henry I., to whom he gave his 
sister Matilda in marriage. Edgar died at Edinburgh on 
the 8th of January, 1106—7, and was succeeded by his 
brother Alexander I., who likewise preserved peace with 
his southern neighbours; but his reign was disturbed by an 
alarming rebellion at home, and by the ecclesiastical pre¬ 
tensions of the archbishops of York and Canterbury. His 
promptitude and valour, however, soon quelled the former, 
and his steady opposition to the latter enabled him to main¬ 
tain the rights of his country and the independence of his 
government. Alexander died in April 1134, and was suc¬ 
ceeded by David, the younger son of Malcolm and Mar¬ 
garet. This prince, having been educated at the court of 
Henry I., had acquired a knowledge of the English laws, 
and gained considerable experience in the art of govern¬ 
ment. Like his predecessor, he resisted with success the 
efforts of the court of Rome to destroy the independence 
of the Scottish church. His attention was afterwards drawn 
to 
